Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin

Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin (16 May 1763 – 14 November 1829), was a hard-working French chemist. He published 378 scientific papers that mainly describe how to isolate chemicals. He was born in Saint-Andre-d Hebertot in Normandy. His first contact with chemistry came about when he was a laboratory assistant to pharmacist in Rouen.

Appointed as assistant professor of chemistry in 1795 and as a professor of chemistry at the Paris Ecole des Mines, which was one of the new European technical universities established to bring science education to the mining industry.

Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin discovered mineral of chromium in 1797, in Siberian red lead ore. In 1798, the new metal was isolated by reduction of chromium oxide, CrO3, with charcoal at high temperature.

He made the serendipitous observation that the new mineral would find few uses because it is brittleness and infusibility. Less than 150 later, the unglamorous metal had become crucial to the military survival and economic wellbeing of all the industrialized nations.

Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin wrote many ‘Memoires’ inserted in the ‘Annales de Chimie’ and other periodicals.
Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin